1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data transfer and, more particularly, to systems and methods for removing gaps from data streams.
2. Description of Related Art
Routers receive data on a physical media, such as optical fiber, analyze the data to determine its destination, and output the data on a physical media in accordance with the destination. Routers were initially designed using a general purpose processor executing large software programs. As line rates and traffic volume increased, however, general purpose processors could not scale to meet the new demands. For example, as new functions, such as accounting and policing functionality, were added to the software, these routers suffered performance degradation. In some instances, the routers failed to handle traffic at line rate when the new functionality was turned on.
To meet the new demands, purpose-built routers were designed. Purpose-built routers were designed and built with components optimized for routing. They not only handled higher line rates and higher network traffic volume, but they also added functionality without compromising line rate performance.
A conventional purpose-built router may include a number of input and output ports from which it receives and transmits streams of information packets. A switching fabric may be implemented in the router to carry the packets between the ports. In a high-performance purpose-built router, the switching fabric may transmit a large amount of information between a number of internal components.
Conventional routers are typically configured to handle packets transmitted within streams of variable bandwidths. Usually, the conventional routers process the packets. Processing of the packets sometimes introduces gaps into the packets.
As a result, there is a need for systems and methods that remove gaps from packets within streams of any bandwidth.